


Rakhana

by DrJekyl



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-20
Updated: 2016-03-20
Packaged: 2018-05-27 22:07:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6302110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrJekyl/pseuds/DrJekyl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The revelation that the hanar are conspiring to uplift a newly discovered species, the drell, sends shockwaves through the galaxy and right into the T’Soni household.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rakhana

**Author's Note:**

  * For [boshtet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/boshtet/gifts).



It was a rare thing indeed to see Benezia T'Soni, not just agitated, but actively _irate_.  She stalked the confines of their study, fists drawn in tight to her sides, the blue glow of biotic energy threatening to escape her control rippling along her skin.  Her lips were drawn into a tight snarl, eyes thunderous with anger.

She was at once terrifying and hot as all hell.

Aethyta's skin tingled, her pulse and breath quickened, acutely aware that before her paced one of Thessia's most powerful and accomplished biotics.  She knew rationally that she was perfectly safe - even utterly furious, Nezzy wouldn't step on a flower if she could possibly avoid it - but her body was definitely gearing up for one of the three big F's.  Aethyta wasn't entirely sure if she wanted to goad her bondmate on, calm her down, or see if she couldn't somehow get Benezia to pin her against the wall and fuck her, good and proper, until she couldn't stand on her own two feet anymore.

Goddess, some bondmate she was, thinking about what it'd be like to have all of that barely-controlled power turned against her.  She should be trying to _help_ , however she could, not imagining being all but helpless while Nezzy forced her legs apart, tore her shirt open, maybe bit down on her shoulder, hard enough to bruise. So what if Benezia using real force in their bed play was a novelty she didn't often get to sample?

Aethyta wet her lips, squeezed her eyes shut and pinched the bridge of her nose in what turned out to be a futile attempt to try to clear her head.  Eight hundred years old and a matriarch, and Benezia made her feel like a randy young matron again.  She shouldn't have sex on the brain with so serious a topic at hand.

"The hanar have been kicked to the back burner for way too long," she hazarded after way too long herself, and after Benezia had reached the far side of the room again.  "Can you blame 'em for seizing an opportunity when it came?"

Benezia's response was immediate and explosive, wheeling back towards Aethyta hand raised to point directly at her.

"Desperate people should not be regarded as an opportunity to exploit!"

Aethyta threw up her hands defensively, trying to ignore the way her mouth went dry.  It was like being in the presence of some kind of an avenging deity. If Aethyta could sculpt worth a damn and not just ruin perfectly good marble, she'd never be short of a muse.  Maybe she could commission someone to make a statue.

"Babe, I'm not excusing it.  Hell, I'm pretty damn pissed off about it too!"

She took a deep, calming breath that actually helped, a little bit, before continuing her point.

"I'm just saying that the Kahje had a motive for keeping it all secret until they had everything locked down.  A client race - a _terrestrial_ client race is a hell of a coup, and they've been angling for a Council seat for longer than I've been alive.  It'll further their standing among the others."

Benezia shook her head at Aethyta's words and turned away, resuming her pacing.

"Goddess, a new _species_ , and on a dying world.  And it may already be too late to help them, because of impatience and politics!  If the Illuminated Primacy thinks that this will further their case and position within the Council, I will _personally_ see to it that they find themselves deeply mistaken!"

Yes, Aethyta decided, statues. Many statues. Some of them might even be clothed.

Benezia stopped at the furthest point of her route, turned around and gestured curtly towards Aethyta, demanding answers.

“How did we not know until now?" she snapped.  "How did nobody know?"

The questions drew a frown to Aethyta's own brow.  It was the first question she'd asked herself when the news had broken a few hours ago.

"Hanar aren't like elcor, babe.  They're good at deception when they want to be.  And nobody – not High Command, not even the Spectres – think of 'jellyfish' as a threat worth a damn.  The hanar have got next to no offensive military and most of their people think we’re all to alien to be worth bothering with, 's long as we leave them alone, so we do.  Besides, everyone's been more worried about stopping the salarians from fucking up something new, or power struggles in the Hierarchy. We can't rely on government sources for good intel."

She hesitated for a second before continuing her line of thought, fairly sure that her next point wouldn't be welcome.  But she'd always believed in pressing her advantage while she had it, consequences be damned.

"’hate to say I told you so, but we need access to someone who would’ve found that kind of intel valuable for its own sake.  We should have contracted our own info broker years ago.” 

Yep, that was definitely unwelcome.  Benezia's biotics flared for a fraction of a second, and Aethyta felt a drop in the pit of her stomach that wasn't entirely due to the half-second of micro-gravity that rattled the windows and the glasses on the side table, left a faint tang of ozone, harsh in the summer air.

"Spying for profit is an immoral and exploitative trade at the best of times," Nezzy hissed.

"I've never gotten why you're so damn hung up on info brokering.  You're not going to make an omelette without breaking a few eggs."

"Then perhaps one should refrain from making omelettes in the first place."

For possibly the most politically savvy person Aethyta had ever met, a real mover and shaker, it sometimes seemed like Benezia could be hopelessly naive.

"So, we just throw up our hands and never have an intelligence advantage again?"  Aethyta rolled her eyes.  "We need to know what's happening."

"You're putting words in my mouth, Aethyta.  It's not that we don't need intelligence, but that I believe the manner in which we obtain it and _why_ is important!  I think the turians have it right in that espionage should be done for the good of the state and its people, not for personal profit.  So much of information brokering is little more than bribery and blackmail that enriches a few at the expense of many lives and livelihoods.  Immoral at best!"

Something about the sneer of disdain curling her lip cut right through Aethyta's earlier determination to be the calm one, for once, and flipped the 'F' switch from 'fuck' straight to 'fight'.  She found herself on her own feet, brow hot with sudden anger.  She met Benezia's sneer with one of her own, crossing her arms against her chest.

"And the kind of work I do isn't?  'Bribery and blackmail'?" she mimicked, badly.  " _Maiden's games_ compared to some of the shit I've done for High Command.  Just because it's done in the name of the Republics and not for some matriarchal alliance or fancy multi-system conglomerate doesn't make it any prettier.  Or mean that it doesn't make a few big companies bigger, or a few wealthy matriarchs a bit wealthier.  A few powerful people more powerful.  People like you."

That one struck home, and hard.  Benezia's eyes narrowed and she advanced, quick and threatening as a serpent's strike, stopping at an arm's distance away.

"The difference," Nezzy ground out, "is that profit is a side-effect, not the point.”

"At least profit's an honest motive!"

"And protecting our people isn't?"

Aethyta took a step forward, right into Benezia's personal space. When Benezia gave no ground, her hands fell, seemingly of their own accord, to Nezzy's hips, seizing them in a rough, proprietary grip.

"Babe," she purred, leaning in, "you wouldn't _believe_ the number of things you can justify in the name of 'protecting our people'."

She took another step forward, forcing Benezia back a step of their own.

"Bribery and blackmail ain't the half of it,” Aethyta continued. “Theft?  Yeah, I've done that. Lying? Impersonation? Fraud? Done that too."

Another step, another retreat.

"Assassination?  When I've had to.  When the galaxy would be better off without someone in it.  Is it a hundred percent moral?  Probably not."

This time, when she stepped forward, Benezia didn't yield ground.  They ended up practically nose to nose, chest to chest.  This close, Aethyta could _feel_ her breathe, sense the charge of her biotics, see the flickering of her eyes.  She smelled of ozone and anger, drowning out the floral oils she used when bathing.

"And then,” Aethyta let her voice drop into the husky near-whisper she knew made Nezzy’s toes curl, just to push a little further,” there's always _seduction_. A broken heart or ten.  I’m good at it too.  A word, a touch-"

She ran her hands lightly up Benezia's sides, only slightly surprised when they were caught and firmly held.  Nezzy's expression, her eyes had gone pained, her body stiff and unresponsive beneath Aethyta's hands, and Aethyta knew immediately that she’d overstepped.

"Aethyta, _really_? _Now_?  I'm not at all in the mood.  And reminding me of the... realities of your work is unlikely to change that.  I don't like thinking of you as a..."

Benezia looked away and down, to where one of her hands covered Aethyta's own.  When she met Aethyta's eyes again, her words had a note of finality to them.

"As a killer."

It was times like this that Aethyta could feel a gulf between them, one she wasn't sure they'd ever be able to fully bridge.  When you got right down to it, Benezia was a gentle soul, kind to plants, small animals and matriarchs with more mouth than sense.  She even dealt with her enemies with courtesy, would-be assassins with compassion or pity once the initial fright had passed.

Aethyta, though, wasn't all that nice, or even particularly gentle.  Hell, for all her boasting, she couldn't even claim that everything she'd done to get where she was today had been for good reasons.  Her maidenhood had been stupider than most.  Sometimes survival meant doing things you might regret one day, if you lived long enough. 

“Yeah, I know, I know.  It's just-"

Benezia tried to be understanding about it all. Aethyta knew she did. But she also knew that trying wasn’t the same thing as succeeding.  Sometimes she thought Nezzy could only reconcile loving her with her general abhorrence of hurting others by carefully ignoring some of what Aethyta had done – did do - for a living.  What’d happen if the day came where she couldn’t ignore it, or reconcile it anymore?

Aethyta cast about for some way to salvage the situation, and found only her trusty old standby: play dumb and make her laugh.  In the couple of decades they'd been together, it had only failed her once or twice, even when Benezia knew she was doing it.

"It’s just, _fuck_ you're hot when you're pissed off.  Righteous fury looks good on you."

It was Benezia's turn to roll her eyes, shoving Aethyta's shoulder, not entirely gently.

"You are a flatterer and you are _not_ taking me to bed right now. I-"

"Who said anything about bed?” Aethyta interrupted. “The couch is right here."

Benezia stared at her, stony faced and seemingly torn between renewed outrage and the hoped-for laughter.  In the end, thankfully, the laughter won, weak, but enough for the tension to break, and for Nezzy to duck her head against Aethyta's shoulder.

"Have you always been so..?" she began, voice slightly muffled.

"Suave?" Aethyta supplied, helpful in her relief.

"Incorrigible."

Nezzy sighed heavily and straightened, but didn't extract herself from the circle of Aethyta's arms. 

"I don't want to waste time going over old arguments with you, my love."  She raised a hand to touch Aethyta's cheek, soothing.  "Not now.  An entire culture is going to die.  Billions of people.  Children."

"I know.  So, let's work the problem."

She captured Benezia's hand and drew it back down, entwining their fingers. The tension in Nezzy’s shoulders and the slight static charge of her skin let on that she wasn't quite as placated, nor calm, as she now appeared, but she allowed herself to be guided back towards the couch and then onto it.  She leant into Aethyta's side as she brought up an omni display of the Drell home world, big enough for them both to see

Rakhana was old and dying, its core dead and its atmosphere stripped by its sun and by unchecked industrialisation.  Dotted here and there amongst the sandy wastes, on the sea line or straddling the few still-flowing rivers, were a handful of mega-cities clinging stubbornly to life.  Most of them were at war with each other, fighting over the few remaining pieces of arable land, the few mines still producing.  It was probably only a matter of time before they brought the nukes out, and ended it all for good.

What a waste.  But probably a better way to go than slowly starving to death.

"So," Aethyta said, "what're the options."

"I'm not sure, and I think that's what frustrates me the most."

A couple of quick taps brought up a second display of the associated news feeds.  Punditry and jurnos everywhere were going mad, new articles appearing by the second.  Talking in circles, knowing most hacks, which made finding the few worthwhile opinions and ideas a chore as they both scanned in silence.  Endless speculation, but few solutions.

"Terraforming?"  Benezia asked, reaching across to highlight an article summary, the word bold in the headline.

"Dunno enough about the science to say.  But... they're so resource-poor they'd still be fucked because there's no way off the planet.  No eezo.  Few heavy metals.  Fossil fuels all gone.  One rogue asteroid and it's all over."

Benezia enlarged the Rakhana stats display, glanced over it and then nodded.

"And I suppose even if we could fix the atmosphere, we probably couldn't do it quickly enough to save them all."

"Yeah.  The salarians have been trying to fix Tuchanka’s atmosphere since the genophage with that shroud thing."

"So the population would still crash.  Billions would still starve without further intervention.  And even then, even if we did intervene, as you say, they'd be unable to escape their planet without help.  We'd have to uplift them at some point."

"You know I don't like the idea of 'uplifting' races.  Does more harm than good."

You only had to look at what happened to her father's people to see what happened with uplifting a species before it was ready to meet the galaxy on its own terms.  Used and discarded, their culture as ruined as their cities.

Benezia glanced at her, caught her frown, and squeezed her thigh gently in sympathy.

"I believe that uplift, when undertaken with care and consent, can succeed.  But what the hanar are doing with the evacuees is deeply questionable, ethically.  Uplift aside, they’re asking for service in exchange for assistance that should be freely given."

They stared at the scrolling feed in silence once more.

"Maybe we could just relocate them?" Aethyta hazarded, as they hit a wall of salarian newscasts arguing that the galaxy should simply sit back and watch evolution in action.

Benezia looked skeptical.

"Who would be willing to surrender a garden world?  Even a poor one?  Levo worlds are too rare for the turians to even consider it."

"And the hanar traded their right to claim more terrestrial worlds in favour of exclusive rights to the water ones," Aethyta said, and found herself nodding in agreement.  "The batarians and salarians have a couple of spares each, but they're saving them to be 'discovered' when population pressure needs releasing."

"As are we," Benezia noted dryly. "And I hate to say it, but I can't see our people reaching a consensus on surrendering a world we've laid claim to.  Not for thousands of years.  Sympathy, alas, will only go so far before self-interest."

To prove her point, Benezia opened her own omni to the public debate forums she frequented or monitored.  A single look over them told Aethyta that they were a worse mess than the news feeds.

"Yeah.  And even if, by some miracle, we found a world the drell could have and live on, we've still got a problem with getting them all to leave for it.  Supposedly the hanar are taking everyone who wants to go already.  What are we gonna do with the rest?  Herd them into shuttles at gunpoint?"

"They have as much a right to self-determination as any sentient.  If they say no, with an understanding of the consequences, we must respect their decision." 

Benezia shook her head and sighed, heavy and suddenly sad. 

"No, no matter how it makes _us_ feel, it's their future, their culture.  It’s their right to choose, not ours.  But I feel as though there there must be _something_.  Something not obvious.  Something that will..."

Nezzy's hands clenched into fists again as she broke off in frustration, another burst of biotic static against Aethyta's skin.  Aethyta wrapped an arm around her shoulders, squeezing her tight, offering what comfort she could.

"Babe, you can't solve every problem in the galaxy."

"I know."

"I love you for trying though."

Benezia flashed a quick smile her way, before returning her attention to her forum streams.  Silence fell, once more.  Aethyta kept half an eye on her own news feeds, but the rest of her attention on her bondmate, watching as she started to worry her lower lip, as her frown deepened, as she dashed off a few quick messages and points of interjection.

And, because she was watching, Aethyta could see the exact moment when Benezia had an idea.  Her eyes unfocused, slightly, no longer looking at her omnitool but through it.  Her lips parted, her shoulders relaxed and she went perfectly still, barely breathing, like whatever she was thinking about was using up all of her body's energy.

Aethyta smiled with sudden fondness.  If she was going to make statues to her bondmate's body, she really should give some thought to immortalising her brain as well.

"Perhaps," Benezia began slowly, turning to face Aethyta, "this _is_ an unsolvable problem.  One beyond our ability or control.  At least for the time being.  But there is still time for the situation to change, or for a solution to be found, however unlikely.  That being the case, perhaps we should not be focusing on finding a solution right _now_ , but ways to stop the situation from getting any _worse_ because of things that _are_ within our ability to control."

It didn't take much for Aethyta to see where she was going with the idea.  The drell might not have broken out the nukes yet, but nukes were toys compared to some of the weapons spacefaring races had access too.

"A blockade. Stop the arms-traders and the damn slavers and whoever else thinks they can make a profit on the whole thing."

"I was thinking more of a diplomatic solution, but I suppose an exclusion zone would be a necessary part of that.  We'd need to bring the turians on board, obviously.  And if the turians are there, the salarians will insist on being involved as well."

"I don't know that we'd _need_ to bring anyone else on.  Fourth fleet hasn't seen a proper engagement since I was a maiden.  They could do with going into an active combat zone for a century or two."

"Mmm."  Benezia sounded unconvinced. "I think a coalition would play better to the galaxy at large. We'd take the leadership role, though, obviously.  If we bring in the full Fourth, the other coalition members would only need to contribute token forces."

"Want me to call Admiral T'Kot?" Aethyta asked. "Been a while since I let her kick my ass in the amphitheater, but I could run it past her and see if she bites."

"Yes.  Please.  Her assistance would be invaluable when it comes to steering the rest of High Command."

Benezia stood, abruptly, killing her omni in the same move.

"I'm going to make a few calls as well," she said.  "We'll need to draft a motion and put it through to Tevos before it can go to the people's floor.  But I don't foresee any major obstacles."

"Me neither.  I'm pretty sure T'Kot still owes me for something.  Might be the Espota job."

Goddess, that one had been a complete cluster.  She'd been lucky to get out of that one with her hide intact, let alone with the intel in hand.  The dead drop had been compromised, and she'd only had the data crystal in her hands for a minute when she'd been ambushed by half a dozen of the station's finest thugs-for-hire.

Shaking her head at the memory, Aethyta shut off her own omni and rose, only to find Benezia drawing her in for a kiss.  It was short, but sweet and definitely welcome.

"Thank you," Benezia said.  "I would have spent all afternoon working myself into a fit otherwise."

Aethyta shrugged.

"Anytime, babe."

She'd try to move the stars themselves, if Nezzy wanted it.  Fortunately for Aethyta, she seemed to be satisfied with a second kiss today.

"And perhaps later," Nezzy purred, brushing a speck of lint, visible only to her, from Aethyta's collar, "we can see about putting the couch to the use you suggested."

"The wall," Aethyta corrected quickly, not quite ready to let the earlier fantasy go. 

At Benezia's raised eyebrow, she added:

"I wasn't lying when I said you have no idea how hot you are when you're pissed off.  I want you to come back in here later and pin me against the wall with your biotics and then fuck me like you own me."

Benezia's slightly perplexed expression faded into one of surprise, chased by a hint of sudden excitement, anticipation, a light blush of colour to her cheeks.  It was a look that went straight up and down Aethyta's spine and found a home under her skin, in her chest, her nape and between her thighs.  She'd have to wear something she didn't mind getting torn.  But something that'd be _satisfying_ to tear.  Maybe the red dress?  With the frills?  No, that was the lucky one.  A suit.  More pieces, more buttons.  Yeah, that was the way to go-

"Well," Benezia said, recapturing her wandering attention, and then her lips.  "I think that's something we can arrange as well."


End file.
